Can you provide an answer for me please?

Yesterday for the first time, I attended an open mic evening at the Arts Centre in my town. Many of the poets who read their work were Academics and all of them had published their work. There does not appear to be any room for rhyme and metered poetry at all. The poetry appeared to be poetic prose.Is this the experience that others are finding? Is rhyme dead? What is the attitude of academics towards rhyme? Thank you for any answers you can provide.